East Palace, Chengqian Hall.
Prince Zhao Ming was probably the first among the princes to get the news. After learning about the actions of his younger brother who had grown up with him, Prince Zhao Ming didn't say much.
Just that day, the War Bureau received an order that the iron materials needed for some of the ordnance that needed to be replaced by the Royal Horse Supervisor in the palace this year needed to be purchased in Yunzhou County.
They also asked them to take the initiative to send people to Yunzhou County to find someone to contact them!
This is so simple!
Cui Ming, the eunuch in charge of the war bureau, was stunned after receiving the order.
Those who supply iron materials have always come to them to ask for supplies, and there has never been a reason for the War Bureau to take the initiative to find suppliers of materials.
But this was an order passed down from above, and given his position, he knew who had given it to him, so he knew that he could not refuse this order. No matter how ridiculous it felt, he had to follow the order.
He had no choice but to find a eunuch in charge of the military affairs bureau and lead some people towards Yunzhou County.
As for him going in person?
How is that possible? Although this is an order passed down from someone, who is still just the crown prince, and the goals of the four and five princes in the court are clearly revealed. It is still unclear whether which one can ascend to that position.
Just have a dignified palm print eunuch handle it for you. Let me personally travel thousands of miles to the border areas to belittle people. Who doesn't have that ability?
Soon Yunzhou County received this group of people, and the Yunzhou County government did not embarrass them. After all, they had traveled thousands of miles and were still customers.
After discussing the specific matters regarding the supply of materials, Yunzhou County officials also specially gave them some local products.
This made the little eunuchs who were originally sent out to deliver money to people on poles for thousands of miles, and were very dissatisfied, couldn't help but sigh, this "local specialty" was really what they wanted.
It's not like my trip was in vain.
According to the current iron price on the market, a pound of pig iron costs about 25 cents, and if the quality of wrought iron is good, it costs about 35.1 cents.
According to the discussion between the Yunzhou County Yamen and the eunuch in charge, Yunzhou County will supply iron to the War Bureau at this price, but the apparent purchase price of iron is thirty-eight cents for pig iron and thirty-eight cents for wrought iron.
The extra ones... The head eunuch smiled happily, and the accompanying young eunuchs also laughed, secretly feeling that the officials in Yunzhou County were good people.
In this way, the deal between Yunzhou County and the Bingzhan Bureau was completely concluded.
Both parties got the result they wanted, and then they went back to their respective homes to find their respective mothers.
Not long after, the people sent by the fourth prince also came to Yunzhou County and began to discuss matters related to the iron supply in Yunzhou County, and specifically made a request to see King Yun.
After receiving the news, Zhao Jun agreed to meet, but not at the palace, but with these people at the county governor's office.
Soon, from their mouths, Zhao Jun understood what his good fourth brother meant by sending people.
There was an expression of dissatisfaction on his face, but his heart was full of disdain. The fourth child wanted to take advantage of everything with this little trick. Unfortunately, he didn't know that the price of iron in Yunzhou County was much lower than he thought.
The price given by the Fourth Prince for pig iron was twenty cents, and for wrought iron, it was thirty cents, which was much lower than the price of iron on the market, but Zhao Jun didn't care.
After showing an angry and helpless look, he finally "humiliatedly" agreed to the request to sell the iron materials to Zhao Ji at a low price.
But after the people sent by Zhao Ji left, the officials in the yamen couldn't help but smile happily.
Because since the beginning of blast furnace iron smelting, Yunzhou County's iron smelting output has been rising steadily.
The corresponding smelting costs are also reduced.
Nowadays, the price of pig iron in Yunzhou County has been suppressed to about 15 yuan per pound.
Wrought iron is only twenty-three cents.
Even if it is sold to the fourth prince at this seemingly depressed price, Yunzhou County will still make a lot of money.
There is no loss at all, and there is an additional sales channel.
Zhao Ji may have made a profit, but Yunzhou County will never lose!
You said this matter caused a fuss...
As the saying goes, don't reveal your wealth, sneak into the village, and don't use guns. Naturally, Yunzhou County will not expose its low price, so it has no choice but to "humiliately" sell a large amount of iron to the fourth prince, and at the same time Make a lot of money from this "losing money".
Prince Yun's Mansion.
Zhao Jun was looking at the account book of this month's income. In addition to the usual fixed income, there was a lot more income this month.
First of all, it was a large order from the Bingzhan Bureau, but even if it was a large amount, the Bingzhan Bureau was only responsible for the weapons and ironware of the Royal Horse Supervisor, and only a part of it was given to Yunzhou County, so it didn't actually make much money.
The main culprit is still the Fourth Prince. Ever since the Fourth Prince took the initiative, many people in the court have been eyeing his tax-free policy for the past three years.
There are quite a few people coming to see me these days.
Zhao Jun selected a few, and together with the orders from Lao Si, they brought him a net profit of two hundred thousand taels this month alone.
Of course, this is a financial report for outsiders to see. In fact, based on the cost of iron materials in Yunzhou County, this profit is already nearly 300,000 taels.
The army will be expanded soon, and so many people have been bought back, and they are spending money everywhere. Now with such a large amount of income, Zhao Jun's financial pressure has been relieved.
While he was calculating the accounts, Wang Huaien suddenly walked in quickly and leaned into his ear.
"Your Majesty, the Sheriff is outside asking for an audience."
Zhao Jun frowned and looked at the sky. It wasn't time for lunch yet. Why was Li Yi looking for him now?
Since the officials from Yunzhou County ate at the Prince's Mansion several times, they found that the food in the Prince's Mansion was much more delicious than outside, so they often delayed coming until almost dinner time when they had something to do, just to have a meal, and they also knew that rice Zhao Jun would not be embarrassed to let them watch.
So now Zhao Jun is used to it. A bunch of people often come to him to report work before dinner. This has almost become a "rule" for the upper-level officials of Yunzhou County.
Most non-important matters are discussed at the dinner table.
It's not even lunch time yet, and Li Yi came to see him now, so it must be something really urgent.
After waving his hand, Zhao Jun asked Wang Huaien to bring Li Yi in.
As soon as he came in, Li Yizheng was about to salute when Zhao Jun waved his hand and said: "Okay, there should be something important at this point, so don't waste time and delay things."
Li Yi hurriedly said: "Your Majesty is wise!"
Then he told what he had done today.
"Your Majesty, when Yunzhou County recruits a large number of people from all over Liaobei County to enter the customs these days, we find that many people are almost dead when they come to us. We even heard them say that many people fell on the road before they came.
When the officials from various places sent these people here, they didn't give them any food at all and forced them to carry them over.
Some of the nearby mansions were fine, and they could be reached within a short while, but for those farther away, the population of those who were already hungry would suffer a sharp decline after such a long journey.
The official thinks that this is not possible. Originally, we wanted to give them a way to survive, but now that we have done this, although some people have survived, we have also allowed some people to be forcibly eliminated on the road. This is not only unfair to A waste of manpower and cruelty to these people! "
After hearing this, Zhao Jun frowned deeply. He knew that the officials in the pass did not treat the common people as human beings at all, but he did not expect that they would go so far.
He would certainly not allow such a situation.
After thinking for a moment, Zhao Jun suddenly asked: "How much food does our Yunzhou County have now?
In addition, didn’t the first batch of people who came have arranged for them to go to Nanli County to transport the Spring Festival tax?
How long will it take for the first batch of grain to return to Yunzhou County? "
After listening to the questions asked by Zhao Jun, Li Yi quickly began to recall the data recorded by the Yamen and began to estimate...
(End of chapter)
